Deception
by Anteyra
Summary: Enterprise docks with a new species, and First Contact appears to go well. But not everything is as it seems. (Will be a return of OC Evelyn Jacobs from "Difficult Friendships", now an Ensign.)
1. The Janen Meeting

Chapter 1

Standing in the Mess Hall in his cleanest uniform, Captain Jonathan Archer watched the stewards with an eagle eye as they laid out the tables with freshly prepared food from the galley. Plates with carefully presented salads, neatly cut triangular sandwiches, sliced vegetables and remekins with various dips. All were being brought out and set down carefully so as not to disturb how chef had presented them. Finally, jugs of juices and wines were brought out and placed on the table nearest the windows. Archer was overseeing it all. Everything had to be perfect for their guests, a group of alien scientists that had come to collect data on the nearby blue giant, known to Humans as Bellatrix, a star in the night sky that formed part of the constellation Orion.

The Captain spent a moment or two looking out at the blue giant star. They were almost two hundred and fifty light years away from Earth, and this star was visible in the night sky, and now here he was looking at it in all it's true glory. When he was a child, he used to look up at the stars, and wonder if he would ever see any of them, up close. Now, six years after they had started their mission into deep space, they had seen at least a few of those stars that he used to wonder about. A truly amazing feeling that not many humans got the chance to experience. Maybe one day more would. Maybe one day bigger, faster ships would be built to take his species even further and meet other new civilisations. But for now, he was enjoying just looking out at Bellatrix.

He had almost completely forgotten what he was doing in the Mess Hall till he vaguely heard the swoosh of the door and a few seconds later a familiar voice sounded to his left. "The Janens will be here in just a few minutes. Captain Auran needs to transmit their latest data transmission back to their homeworld." The officer reported in their usual calm voice.

Captain Archer nodded his head slightly before turning to look back into the room at the busy crewmen. "Thank you, T'Pol."

"Commander Tucker also sends his apologies, but he will be delayed." She added, knowing he wouldn't be too happy with those words.

"What's his excuse this time?"

"He didn't go into too much detail, but it's to do with holes in uniform while changing."

Jonathan had to concentrate very hard not to blurt out a laugh that now threatened to be heard. Tucker certainly was inventive when it came time for excuses to miss things. The last staff meeting which he missed over half of was due to a "missing tool" that he had aparently misplaced and spent the time looking for. Rostov later confirmed that that was untrue. He used the excuse of needing to write a letter back home to his parents in order to delay his annual physical in Sick Bay, but Archer later learned, via Hoshi, that the letter had been sent twenty minutes before the appointment had been scheduled. Needless to say, due to his faffing around, the appointment was made for later that day and he had T'Pol shadowing him the whole time to ensure he would attend.

"I'm sure the quartermaster will get it patched up in no time. Or he should learn how to sew." He replied, still trying to stifle a laugh. The corners of his mouth so very nearly turned up into a smile and his cheek muscles were slightly tensed.

T'Pol stared at her Captain for a moment or two. Deep down she had found Trip's little accident sightly amusing, very deep down, but the Vulcan Science Officer failed to see why Archer found it amusing enough for the need to stop himself from making such a sound. She turned to face the same way as Archer, watching as the last few items such as plates and glasses were brought into the room, and very quickly the stewards disappeared, leaving the two senior officers on their own. "Most likely." She replied. "Lieutenant Reed is waiting by the starboard docking port for us."

Archer nodded his head once again. "We'd better join him." He started to head for the door with T'Pol following closely behind. "How many officers and guns has he brought along with him?" He knew what his chief Armoury Officer was like, especially with visitors on board.

"He said he would be alone and unarmed." The Vulcan replied, her words causing Archer to turn his head sharply to look at her, half expecting it to be a rare Vulcan joke, but as usual her face was expressionless. T'Pol had picked up a few of Trip's bad jokes in the last couple of years.

Jonathan raised an eyebrow quiestioningly at her. "Alone?"

"Mr Reed said he was giving you the benefit of the doubt and trusting your instincts on this occasion." T'Pol's hands were clasped behind her back as usual. Her purple duty uniform was immaculate as always. She took pride in her uniforms and they very rarely got any sort of mark on them.

Captain Archer sighed slightly and opened the door, being the gentleman that he was he stepped to one side and allowed T'Pol to go through first. He then followed. "That doesn't sound like Malcolm at all."

"Indeed." She nodded her head.

Together they walked along the corridor round to the airlock, which was just a few metres away. They had just arrived when a voice sounded over the intercomm.

"Bridge to Captain Archer."

The man moved to the panel and pressed the little white button at the bottom, speaking into the microphone. "Archer here."

"Captain Auran says he's ready to begin docking procedures." Hoshi announced from her station up on the Bridge.

"Tell him he has a go." He closed the comm line and stood back, waiting patiently.

Malcolm Reed wetted his lips as he watched his commanding officer. "Shouldn't we wait for Commander Tucker?" He asked, standing on Archer's right hand side a step or two behind him.

"He'll be joining us later."

Lieutenant Reed sighed slightly, crossing his arms over his chest. "What's his excuse this time?" He knew what his friend was like, wanting to spend just a little longer with his precious engine was he? Not wanting to make a fool of himself like he did last time they met a new species?

"Wardrobe crisis." Archer turned to look at Malcolm. "I think he's been helping himself to extra servings of Pecan Pie when no one else has been watching." Once again the calm composure of the Captain was almost threatened, but he managed to just about keep it in check.

The Armoury Officer smiled, and had a little chuckle to himself, he knew the Captain wouldn't mind that, they were close friends, the three of them. "Perhaps extra drills are needed for him during the senior officer training sessions."

Archer nodded in agreement. "Sounds like an excellent idea to me." A small smile crept onto his face at last. _'That should teach him a lesson.'_

His thoughts were cut short a moment or two later by the slight jolt of the Janen's vessel making contact with _Enterprise_. The red light soon went out and the green one underneath it lit up.

"Docking complete, airlock sealed." The Brit reported, even though Archer knew exactly what the lights and beeps meant, policy stated that all officers should have the running commentary, especially around the Captain, although sometimes Archer seemed to let Trip do it without needing to narrate.

"Let's give them a big warm Starfleet welcome." He looked between T'Pol and Malcolm with a slight smile beofre looking back at the door and waited patiently.

Malcolm stepped forward and pushed another four buttons, three lower down and one near the top of he panel, to open the air lock door. So many buttons to press on a daily basis, after a few weeks anyone would be sure to notice that their thumbs or index fingers would be getting stronger due to how often a button needed to be pressed.

There was a split second delay before the door slid back to reveal six aliens standing the other side. Most of their appearance was like a Human's, the most obvious difference was that of the yellow pigment to their skin, being slightly taller in stature and two small, stubby horns in the middle of their foreheads, high up, practically to the hairline which appeared to be a little further back as well. Their eyes varied in colour from light yellows to dark browns, but not one of them had blue or green. These were the Janens, their guests on board _Enterprise_. Being quite a short person in the first place, Malcolm Reed had to lift his head up quite a bit to be able to take in the appearance of these aliens.

Archer stepped forward, smiling softly to them, holding out a hand towards them. "Welcome aboard the _Enterprise._"

The man at the lead of the group took a couple of steps towards him, having exchanged general greeting information earlier, via Hoshi, he was ready for the traditional Human greeting of a hand shake and shook Archer's outstretched hand firmly. "Captain Archer." A wide grin spread across his features. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." He let go of the Captain's hand and stepped back, placing his left palm on his right chest where his heart was and then bowed his head low in respect. This was the customary greeting on his own planet, a planet they had said was about twenty light years away. Captain Archer returned the gesture in kind, being very careful not to place his hand where his heart was on the left as that meant something completely different, and not very nice. Pleased with the gesture he continued to introduce the men with him. "May I introduce my first officer, Commander Prell; my Chief of Security, Sub Lieutenant Vanek; and crewmen Hanet, Javel and Forissa." It was obvious that Forissa was a female as she didn't have the cranial horns. As each name was announced they performed the greeting, to which Archer was obligated to repeat in kind.

"It's a pleasure to have you all aboard. This is Commander T'Pol, my science officer." The female Vulcan bowed her head slightly. "And Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, my tactical Officer."

"Gentlemen, ma'am." The Englishman also bowed his head.

Captain Auran nodded back to each of them, clasping his hands together in anticipation of a tour of the Starfleet vessel. "From the outside your vessel looks fairly impressive. I'm hoping it's just as impressive on the inside."

"Hopefully more so." The two Captains smiled at each other, getting along like a house on fire. "Would you like the tour first, or something to eat?"

Auran took a few moments to think, looking at his crew behind him. "I think we should work up an appetite first."

Archer nodded in agreement. "This way, please." He stated, inviting the Janen Captain to walk and talk beside him as they toured the vessel. T'Pol and Reed followed, joining in with the conversation when questions were asked of them or if they had questions of their own to ask.

The tour of Enterprise took them practically all over the ship; starting off in engineering, then a trip down to sickbay, the science labs, the gym and launch bays. Before their arrival, Archer and Reed had agreed not to show them the Armoury, and of course the Bridge was not part of the sight seeing.

It was a good hour and a half before the small group finally arrived at the Mess Hall.

"This is where most of the crew have their meals. Most of it is freshly prepared by our chef in the galley, but we do have access to a protein resequencer when the need arises, which isn't too often." Archer began to explain as he stepped over the threshold. Once inside he paused for a moment, spotting the very tardy Commander Tucker.

"And is this your chef?" Sub Lieutenant Vanek queried, pointing at the Engineer.

Archer shook his head with a bit of a laugh. "No." He led them over to his friend. "This is Commander Charles Tucker, my Chief Engineer."

"Pleased to meet you." Trip said and slowly, but surely, greeted them with their gesture. He was a little uncertain at first but became a little more confident when he saw them doing the same.

Once the greeting was over Archer began to usher them over to the tables. "Chef has prepared some tradtional Earth food for you to sample."

"It looks very nice." Forissa commented, her yellow eyes scanning over the various plates and bowls. She picked up one of the sandwiches and sniffed it slightly before taking a small bite out of one corner.

"Your chef must have gone to a lot of trouble just for us." Prell said as his brown eyes locked onto a plate of salad and picked up a lettuce leaf, nibbling on the greenery.

Archer smiled slightly. "He's the best in Starfleet." As the Janen crew members began to sample the food, with Malcolm and T'Pol standing by, assisting them with the servings and the drinks, Captain Archer moved to stand close to Trip. His voice lowered to a whisper, a hint of anger in his tone. "You are late, Commander."

"Sorry, Cap'n. Didn't T'Pol pass on a message to ya?" Trip's eyes followed the Captain very closely. He wasn't usuall this angry with tardiness.

"She did." He nodded. "But I didn't expect you to be this late. You're nearly two hours overdue, so you'd better have a good explination for this!"

"The um… rip… was worse than first thought. The Quartermaster said he wouldn't be able to fix it in time so then I had to go and clean another uniform." He explained, then pointed to his sleeve where there was a dark stain visible, left over from the previous night's dinner. "It's not perfect, but I needed something."

Archer turned so he could watch the Janens, to see their reactions as they bit into the sandwiches and sipped the wine. "Couldn't you have borrowed someone else's uniform for a while? Or better still, stop helping yourself to extra servings of desert at meal times!" Before the Engineer had any chance to respond to his friend, Jonathan stepped away to be able to chat with his guests, doing his best to explain to the aliens what the food was that they were eating.

Trip stood there feeling a little embarassed by the situation. Archer was right, he proabably could have borrowed a uniform from a colleague, surely someone would have been kind enough to do so. Oh well, what was done was done, no use worrying over what would be incredibly difficult, not to mention very wrong, to change. After taking a couple of long, slow breaths, he stepped forward and began to converse with their visitors. Yep, this was tuning out to be the best First Contact they had had.


	2. Kidnapped!

Chapter 2

For three hours the Janen crew wined and dined with those of the _Enterprise_ crew, moving into the Captain's Mess when it was time to get the dinners out. As Auran finished his third glass of wine and put his drinking vessel down on the oval table, he could hear a feint beeping sound coming from his left chest pocket in his robes. "Excuse me for a moment, Captain."

Archer nodded his head. "Of course."

Auran reached into his pocket and pulled out the little bronze coloured device. It was round and palmed sized, domed in the middle. A bright blue light lit up in the middle as he pressed a button on the side and began to speak. "This is Auran." He turned away from the rest of the group so as to give himself a little bit of privacy in the conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt you, Captain." A male voice sounded over the comm link. "But Governor Chaneth is on a subspace frequency for you."

The Janen Captain sighed a little bit. "Did he say what it was about?"

"Not directly, but he did mention something about the last data transmission, that there seems to be a slight problem with it."

Auran gave a slightly heavier sigh this time. He was having such a good time with the Human crew, he didn't want to have to speak with anyone else. "Very well, I shall return shortly."

"Yes sir, I'll let the Governor know."

The little blue light went out and he put the device back where it came from before turning to look at the others. "I'm sorry, Captain Archer, but I'm afraid I must return to my ship."

Being in such a small room meant that everyone had heard the conversation and knew what was going on. Archer set his half full glass down on the table, slightly disappointed that their time with the Janens was being cut short. "Maybe you'll come back later on? There's still lots more to know about this magnificent blue giant." He said, pointing out the window slightly.

Auran nodded with a small smile. "Maybe you would visit our ship next time? It's not as impressive as _Enterprise_, but she certainly does have her qualities. And seeing as how you have given us such hospitality, it would be wrong not to return the offer."

A smile returned to Jonathan's face. "That sounds like a wonderful plan." He turned to his Vulcan science officer. "T'Pol, would you please check in on the bridge?"

"Certainly." She turned to the Janens. "Gentlemen, Ma'am." And with that she left the room, her hands clasped behind her back as she waited for the doors to open, then disappeared out to the main mess hall, the doors swooshing closed behind her.

Captain Archer returned his attention to the others. "Shall we?" He gestured to the door and very soon they were walking back along the corridor the short distance to the docking port.

Trip stepped forward and began pressing the buttons to release the door. There was a 'hiss' as the air pressure was equalised and the light turned green, allowing Commander Tucker to open the door.

"We shall speak later, Captain." He held out a hand to the Human and shook Archer's hand firmly. He sure did have a good grip. They waited for the rest of the Janens to step through the doorway before releasing the hand shake.

"I look forward to it."

Captain Auran smiled warmly, and after just a few seconds the smile disappeared and he suddenly grabbed Jonathan's uniform, pulling him harshly forward and through the door to his waiting crew who grabbed him roughly.

"Cap'n!" Trip cried out and together both engineer and tactical officer raced through after them, just as the air lock door closed. A fist fight quickly ensued as they tried to get to their Captain, but the three Starfleet officers were seriously outnumbered.

"I wouldn't try that, Captain!" Auran warned as he pulled out a weapon from his clothes, Prell and Forissa did the same, pointing theirs at Trip and Malcolm.

The three of them stopped fighting upon seeing the weapons and stood still, turning their attention to Auran. "What the hell is this all about!?" Archer was more than angry, he was furious. The Janens stepped forward and grabbed the Lieutenant and Commander, pushing them onto their ship, roughly. Forissa remained, keeping her weapon trained on the human Captain.

Auran shrugged his shoulders slightly, as if this was nothing special, as if this was what he usually did: kidnapping others. "You have a score to settle with some old friends."

"Release Tucker and Reed!" He demanded, raising his voice at their captors.

Auran shook his head. "Sorry, Captain, but we are on a tight schedule." He moved to the control panel and once Forissa and Archer were on board he ensured the door was securely locked before returning to his ship.

Their communicators and other devices were removed from their pockets and stored away somewhere else before they were escorted to the cell. Looks of worry on their faces went between them as the ship shuddered slightly, indicating to them that the Janen's ship had undocked and would be soon jumping into warp. Sure enough, the ship shuddered some more and the sound of engines firing up could be heard.

Trip turned to look at Jonathan, his arms outstretched. "What the hell is goin' on, cap'n?"

Jonathan walked passed him, pacing back and forth across the cell in a frustrated manner. "I can't be certain, but I think they're looking to collect some sort of reward for my capture."

"Bounty hunters?"

The captain nodded his head still pacing. "That's my guess."

Reed crossed his arms over his chest, a favoured stance of his. "There's two species that we know of that's after you. The Klingons and the Orions."

Trip's eyes watched the Captain. "Could easily be either of them."

Archer was not a happy captain. He walked to one end of the cell, turned and then walked to the other end. Auran had deceived them all. All that talk of friendship and good relations, it had all been one huge lie.

"_En'erprise_ will know something is wrong soon enough. They'll follow, if they're not already chasing down this ship."

A nod was all Trip got from the Captain, he didn't want to speak for fear at snapping at the two of them when none of it had been their fault. Well, he supposed he could blame Malcolm for not bringing any weapons along with him, but the Janens had seemed so nice, there didn't seem to be any need for the phase pistols. The whole situation made his mind wander back to Skalaar… maybe… no, there were many more on this ship, he didn't think he'd be able to turn of them like he had the Tellerite.

"Commander, the Janen vessel has suddenly jumped to warp." Travis Mayweather reported, sitting at his helm, beeps sounded as his instruments told him what was going on.

T'Pol sat forward on Jonathan's chair slightly then manoeuvred to one side and pressed the comm button on the left arm of the furniture. "T'Pol to Captain Archer. Our guests have just left, is everything all right?" Silence. Hoshi and Travis glanced at each other with worried looks. It wasn't like the Captain to not respond. "T'Pol to Captain Archer, please respond." Still silence. Her head looked at the tactical station where Ensign Evelyn Jacobs sat.

"I haven't detected any weapons fire." The security officer replied, shaking her head after checking the sensor logs for the last minute or so. Very little to report at all. The only female Briton on board, with shoulder length brown wavy hair, a fringe and blue eyes, had finally gotten the promotion she wanted, but it had been a long a difficult road to get there.

"Where are they?"

Evelyn stood up and moved round to the science station, bot bothered to sit as she worked on the console in front of her. He face became a picture of worry. "Uh oh."

"What do you mean 'uh oh'?" Hoshi queried, watching the Ensign carefully.

"According to these readings, he's no longer on board. Neither are Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed!"

The Vulcan rose to her feet immediately. "Ensign Mayweather, are the Janen's still on long range sensors?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Pursuit course, maximum warp." Her head turned as she gave an order to Jacobs. "Go to Tactical Alert!" Evelyn gave one nod and returned to her usual station. Pressing a red button, the lights dimmed slightly on the bridge and red lights lit up. The weapons were now ready and fully charged. "Time to intercept?"

"If they stay at their present speed?" Travis pressed a few buttons and waited for his console to make the necessary calculations. "Eight minutes."

Jacobs raised her eyes to watch as T'Pol returned to the command chair. The Vulcan's eyes scanned the bridge and noticed that Jacobs was looking at her. "Is there a problem, Ensign?"

"Yes, Commander." She nodded. "Why would the Janens kidnap them? We didn't do anything to offend them, did we?"

T'Pol shook her head. "Not to my knowledge." She stood up and started to slowly pace around the bridge. "Hopefully their intentions will be made clear when we catch up with them." She stopped for a moment, Ensign Mayweather, can you determine where they are headed?"

Travis could only nod slowly, a grim feature on his face. "Yeah, but you're not gonna like it. Their trajectory indicates that they're heading right into Klingon space."

As her mind began to formulate a rescue plan, the Vulcan lowered herself back into the command chair, slowly. This was not good news at all surely what Archer had done for the Klingons with helping to get the cure for the mutagenic virus was enough to stop them hunting the Captain down, unless there was a small rogue faction that were part of Duras' lot and still seeking revenge for Duras' demotion and death. That seemed pretty logical, a possibility a member of the Duras family seeking to regain honour to the family name.

The same sinking feeling was now running though the veins of everyone on the bridge. Captain Archer's life was in jeopardy, but what about Reed and Tucker? What would they do to them?

"Ensign Jacobs. How prepared are they security teams?"

"They're always prepared, Commander. As are the MACOs."

"Will they follow your orders?"

"Just as if they were Lieutenant Reed's, Ma'am." Jacobs nodded, confirming the Vulcan's first though. This fact also solidified the Captain's decision of a promotion, but she had had to work extremely hard for it after the Romulan asteroid outpost. The little stunt she had pulled there had been a bit of a step back, but it had finally worked. No more arguments, no more fighting with Lieutenant Reed, the two of them seemed to get along a lot better now.

"Get together a boarding team."

"Yes ma'am." Evelyn nodded and headed into the turbo lift to head for the armoury. A male Ensign quickly took her place at the tactical station.

T'Pol sat back down in the commander chair, her brown eyes fixated on the view screen in front of her. Just like any other Starfleet officer, she was determined to retrieve Archer, Tucker and Reed.

Ensign Jacobs strode into the armoury and directly over to one of the MACOs. "Corporal MacKenzie!" She addressed the female MACOs commander "I need you to get together a boarding party. Four should do it."

MacKenzie watched the features of the Ensign as she gave out instructions. "Has something gone wrong"

Jacobs nodded her head "I'll say. The Janens have kidnapped the Captain, Commander Tucker and Lieutenant Reed, we're going to get them back."

"I'll send my four best personnel."

"That'd be your whole team, Corporal!" Evelyn smiled as she headed for a weapon's locker, joking a little bit with the other woman, knowing that MacKenzie would find humour in her comment "Have them meet me by the transporter in five minutes." Grabbing a couple of holsters and two phase pistols she left the room, attacking the equipment to her waist as she left. She knew Malcolm would be glad of a weapon during the rescue mission. Various tactics began running through her mind as all her training was going to be put to the test. This would be her first big rescue command, and so she needed to be prepared for anything the Janens would throw at them.

Sure the crew had simulated rescue missions as part of her testing for a promotion, and as simple training ready for the probability that something like this would happen, but they weren't the same. No one was ever in any real danger, the power cells were removed from the pistols and little reed laser lights were placed on them instead to indicated when someone was 'shot', but no one was ever really shot.

She reached the transporter before any of the MACOs but she knew they would be along any minute. Another crewman from the security department soon arrived, someone whom Jacobs could rely on, along with a science officer, ready to activate the transporter controls.

"Bridge to Ensign Jacobs." T'Pol's voice sounded over the comm system.

Adjusting the holster slightly so it sat comfortably on her waist, Jacobs moved to the panel and answered. "Jacobs here."

"We will be within weapons range in just under two minutes. As soon as their engines are down beam over and retrieve our crew by any means necessary."

Evelyn turned her head as she heard footsteps approaching and was glad to see all four MACOs with their combat vests on and carrying their rifles. She noted who MacKenzie had sent; Woods, Cole, Ramirez and Palmer. "Understood, Commander. We're ready down here."

It was clear on everyone's faces that they were thinking and feeling the same things; rescue their fellow crewmates, alive, stay alive and then get back to exploring and hope no one else tries to do the same thing for a while.


	3. The Search

Chapter 3

The cell wasn't huge, but it was enough space for the three of them; five metres wide by seven metres long. There were only two beds though, and nothing else. Four very strong and very solid walls to keep prisoners where they were supposed to be. Apart from the door, the only other acess point into the room was through a small grid that led onto the ventilation system, but it was far too small for Archer, Tucker and Reed to get through, big enough for a small child to get through, possibly, but not full grown adults.

The door slid open and Auran stepped in, noting where his three prisoners were. Archer was sitting on a bunk bed, leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs, his head looking up when the Janen appeared. Trip was sat on the floor the other side of the cell, one leg straight, the other bent with one arm resting on it. And Malcolm was leaning with his back against the wall fairly close to the door, but moved as their captors entered. Prell and Havek followed behind Auran, all three pointing their weapons at the Starfleet officers.

Glaring, Archer rose to his feet and stepped forward slightly, he knew Trip and Malcolm wouldn't try anything right now, they were too sensible for that. "I wanna know what the hell you are doing! You come onto _my_ ship pretending to be friends and then take us prisoner!"

"We were only after you, Captain. Your crewmen shouldn't have interfered."

"They're trained to interfere. And my crew will do whatever it takes to get us back safely." He paused, looking Auran up and down slightly. "You will pay for this."

The Janen gave out a hearty laugh, finding the Captain's words highly amusing. "I don't think so." He chuckled a little more. "It will be the Klingons that will be paying me for your sucessful capture and return to justice."

"You won't get away with this!" Trip's anger was clear on his voice. "_En'erprise _will hunt you down, and won't stop."

Again Auran laughed, these Humans really were pathetic. What were they going to try and say next? "We fired no weapons on your vessel, so they won't have detected anything. They won't realise anything is wrong untill we are well out of sensor range."

"I wouldn't count _Enterprise _out just yet, my crew are the best in Starfleet. Highly trained…"

Auran cut the Captain mid sentence. "Yes, yes, yes. You gave me that speech earlier during your little tour. Here's the thing." He stepped closer to Archer, his height giving him the advantage of making sure he was intimidating the Humans. "They will just think that Governor Chaleth has recalled us home. You're wasting your breath, Captain."

"It's only me the Klingons are after. What are you going to do with Reed and Tucker?" He queried, still watching Auran and the weapons they still had pointing at them.

Auran turned away and began to walk back to the door before turning back to face him. "We'll be fairly close to an Orion slave trading outpost. I believe you're familiar with that too, Captain. Sould be fairly easy to get rid of them there."

Archer's jaw clenched at the mention of selling his two closest friends into slavery, and he knew that the Janen's words would have struck fear into both Trip and Malcolm's minds. Their experience with the Orions had not been at all pleasant, and they had nearly lost nine crew, including T'Pol due to Arik Soong's attempts at escaping from incarceration. "Whatever the Klingons said they were going to pay you, you'll get less. I've seen it happen before. They'll lie to suit them."

Auran now drew out a knife and rushed at Archer, grabbing his clothes and holding the blade against his throat. Trip and Malcolm tried to help, but remembered the weapons and remained back for fear that it would all end worse than it wasgoing to. "The Klingons don't care weather you are hurt or not, Captain. They'll pay me whatever. So stop wasting your breath. Nothing you or your crew are going to say will make me change my mind about what I'm doing. We've been bounty hunters for the last thirty years. It's all we're used to. We do enjoy it though" He let go of the blue jumpsuit and put the knife away into his robes. "If I were you, I would spend your last few hours with your crewmates saying good bye."

Another crewman soon walked into the cell, pushing passed Prell and Havek to get to Auran. "Commander!" He addresed him, revealing Auran had lied about his rank too, although after everything that had transpired so far, Jonathan Archer wasn't really finding that at all surprising, everything the Janen had told them had been lies. "The Earth vessel. It's closing in on us."

A smirk came across Archer's face at hearing that, and he glanced slightly to look at Trip, whose face remained stunned, as did Malcolm's.

"What!?" Auran glared sharply at the Janen. He looked at Archer and noticed the smirk, further annoying him. Why did the Human have to be right? "Raise shields and bring the weapons online!" They all turned to leave.

"Like I said!" Archer called after them. "Don't count _Enterprise_ out just yet."

Auran pointed a long finger at the three captives. "Separate them! I don't want to make it too easy for the Humans, and I certainly don't want them talking to each other any more!" And with that he left the cell, angrily.

"Good ole T'Pol." Tucker sighed and glanced at his friends. "What would we do without her?" He only received nods of agreement from the two of them before Trip and Malcolm were grabbed roughly and shoved out the cell, leaving Captain Archer alone with his thoughts. At least they had some sort of comfort that _Enterprise_ was close and Auran's plans were staring to show signs of going wrong. He only hoped that the crew wouldn't try anything too stupid, especially as he knew the wild character of Ensign Evelyn Jacobs was on duty as second in command of security.

"We'll be within weapon's range in thirty seconds." Ensign Williams reported, the replacement on the tactical station.

T'Pol stood and moved to stand just in front of him. "Target their engines and weapons only." The man nodded and worked on the controls. The Vulcan then turned to look at Hoshi, moving back to the centre as she spoke. "Hail them." They would certainly try negotiating the crew's release before unleashing a full scale attack on the Janen vessel, despite the fact she was certain talking wasn't going to get them anywhere, protocol dictated that dialogue should be attempted first.

A few seconds later and Ensign Hoshi Sato replied with a shake ofher head. "No response." Just as the Commander had expected.

"Fire when ready, Ensign." T'Pol ordered, knowing it was just seconds till the order could be carried out. If they weren't going to respond and talk things through like civilised people, then a fire fight it was going to have to be. At least she could say that they had tried.

As soon as he was able to, the blonde haired Ensign opened fire on the enemy ship, firing the phase cannons, the blasts just impacting the shields and dissipating. He upped the yield and fired a few more shots. Enterprise now shuddered as the Janen vessel returned fire, their weapons impacting with the hull, causing sparks to fly across the bridge.

"Ensign!"

"I can't penetrate their shields!"

"Photonic torpedoes." T'Pol ordered, a sense of urgency in her voice. The Janen's weapons were certainly more powerful than their own and doing a lot more damage to them.

Phase canons and torpedoes started to work in unison. A few more shots and the canons made conact with the hull as the shields failed. Small explosions couldbe seen as the targets were taken out.

"They're dropping to impulse." Mayweather announced.

"Stay with them." She stood and leaned forward on the edge of the helm console. Within seconds both ships were travelling at impulse, but still firing at each other.

"Hullplating down to sixty four percent."

"Bridge to transporter. Now!" She ordered after pressing the comm panel right in front of her. "See what you can do about their weapons."

On the Janen ship, the familiar shimmer of a transporter beam sparkled along the dimly lit corridor as the away team materialised. Their weapons at the ready, each member facing a different direction in case they were met with resistance. They were alone. The MACOs relaxed only a tiny bit, and each turned their head to look at the only one with a scanner; Evelyn Jacobs. The hand held instrument buzzed and whistled it's usual tune as it scanned the area, attempting to locate three Human biosigns.

"This way." She almost whispered as the results came back. So far it wasn't showing any Janen nearby which was going to make it easier for them, although the scanner's range was only around 100 metres. For almost two minutes, they carried on along the corridors, pressing themselves flat against a wall when they heard footsteps and watched as a couple of crew ran across an intersection further down, completely unaware that they were there.

"Williams must've knocked out internal sensors." Crewman Danning mentioned, being careful to keep his voice down. The people didn't seem to be searching for anyone, and no alarms indicating intruders on the ship had sounded.

"Lucky for us." Woods replied, his grip on his rifle was firm and he was ready for combat, just like the rest of the team.

"Unless we can find the Captain soon our luck will run out, surely they will start thinking we've beamed over." Palmer added.

Evelyn sighed and nodded her head, keeping her eyes on the scanner and the area around them. "Those two we just saw, they may be searching the area around the cells. They appear to be circling the corridors." She indicated, using her pistol as a hand as they were full. Immediately the MACOs turned around, just in case the men would be coming up behind them. Evelyn put her scanner away for the moment, ending it's noise. Everyone was listening hard, so far they couldn't hear anything, just the sounds of their own breathing.

Crewman Danning leaned to Jacobs and whispered in her ear. "So, where is the Captain then?"

"In one of the cells, not sure which though, looks like they are each in a different cell." She replied equally as quiet, her eyes barely blinking as they scanned the gloom for any sign of movement. It worried her that they hadn't met any resistance yet, unless they had set a trap for them. "Let's find them and get out of here." She finally said, waving on two of the MACOs to go ahead first, with Jacobs and Danning following and the last two MACOs taking up the rear.

Almost as soon as the first two MACOs rounded the corner, yellow laser fire went flying through the air, directed at them, forcing them to take cover round the corners.

"You were right, Ensign!" Danning commented as he peeked round the corner and fired a couple of times.

Jacobs did the same, noting that she had managed to peg one of them in the shoulder and taken him out on her third shot. "Believe me, I wish I hadn't been." She peeked round again, attempting to count just how many they were up against. Her eyes spotted five more figures, maybe six.

The MACOs kept ducking in and out between the Janen's fire. Woods jumped out too far and a yellow coloured light hit him in the chest. He cried out in pain as he was knocked from his feet and landed on his back.

"Woods!" The rest of them all laid down cover fire as Danning rushed out to pull the fallen man out of the way. Evelyn pulled out her communicator and flipped it open. "Jacobs to _Enterprise_. Lock on to Woods and Danning and beam them back!" She spoke quickly, emphasising the need for urgency on this occasion. After just a few short moments the transporter was activated and the two of them were beamed out, leaving four to the fight. Evelyn sighed as she hid back round the corner again. She was worried about Woods, but now was not the time to think too much on it. They had to win this, they just had to. Her eyes soon caught sight of a dark figure moving in the gloom along the corridor from where they had just come from, trying to sneak up on them from behind. Quick as a flash she fired at the figure and he instantly went down. _'That'll teach him for trying to sneak up on us.'_ She thought to herself, then checked down the corridors, each way, unable to see anything else. The coast seemed clear for the moment.

Her attention went back to where the main exchange of fire was taking place. The three MACOs seemed to be doing very well, Corporal MacKenzie had chosen the right people for this assignment. Soon all the Janens were down and lying on the deck unconscious. Evelyn began to step forward, looking for the door that would hopefully lead to a cell with someone in.

All was quiet on the bridge of the _Enterprise._ The Janen's weapons had been knocked out so there was no point in wasting any more weapons on a ship unable to fight back and do any damage to the.

Beeping soon came from Williams' console and everyone turned their heads to look at him. "Commander, I'm reading power fluxuations. Looks like their restoring power!"

"How is that possible?" Hoshi asked.

"I think they must've powered off everything, making us think we'd disabled them!"

T'Pol tapped the comm panel next to her. "Bridge to transporter, bring our people back, now!"


	4. Alone

Chapter 4

Stepping forward slowly, Jacobs was almost at a door when the lights lit up, indicating power had been restored to the ship. She turned to look at the MACOs, but could only watch in surprise as they were beamed away, leaving her to stand alone along the corridor. This was not good. Whipping out her scanner she checked the surrounding area for anyone nearby, noting that the shields were back up. The Ensign was now stranded on the enemy vessel. Seconds later she could hear footsteps and had to quickly find a hiding spot, locating a loose panel that she could hide behind. It was a tight squeeze, but she managed it. She held her breath to reduce any noise that would certainly echo through the metal crawl space. The air was heavy with the tension as she waited and waited.

"Their shields are back up!"

"Transporter, did you get everyone?"

"Just the MACOs." The voice replied. "I lost Ensign Jacobs' signal."

T'Pol was about to return to her seat when there was a violent an sudden jolt that nearly knocked everyone over and off their seats. Fires were quick to errupt, but the crew were just as quick to react, grabbing the fire extinguishers and putting them out. The bridge crew could only watch on the view screen as the Janen vessel jumped to warp. "Pursuit course."

Travis shook his head. "Engines are down. We're not going anywhere any time soon." The weapon that had been fired at them had damaged various other systems as well. They were dead in the water.

The Vulcan stood up straight turned away then glanced at Williams. "Get me a damage report." And with that she left the bridge, heading down to sickbay. Not the best of rescues. Instead of getting their crewmen back, a forth one had been captured, and she dreaded to think what they were going to do with Jacobs.

She walked into sickbay and over to where the Denobulan Doctor was treating several patients, most with superficial cuts and burns from the last hit, and Woods who lay on a bio bed, Danning standing nearby giving a little bit of assistance to the busy Phlox. "Doctor?"

Phlox looked up for a brief moment then returned his attention to the wounded MACO "We're doing everything we can, but that last shot knocked out the imagining chamber. I can't treat him as well as I usually can." The man explained, injecting something into the side of the unconscious man's neck.

"Where's Ensign Jacobs?" Danning queried, being certain she woud have checked in right away, as Palmer had already been to see his colleague, he knew Evelyn would want to know how he was.

Despite not showing it too much on her face, her voice was certainly grim. "Still on board the Janen vessel."

The crewman stared at her for a moment or two, taking the news a little hard to believe. Jacobs was usually better than that. He sighed a little bit, surely there was a perfectly good reason she wasn't back on _Enterprise_.

There was a moments pause before the doors to sickbay opened again and Williams walked fowrward, making his way round the crowded room to T'Pol. "Commander, the damage report you asked for. " He held the data pad out for her and she took it with a very slight nod, her eyes scanning what the Ensign had compiled for her. No fatalities, and nothing too severe in the way of how repairs would be carried out. The main thing that caught her eye though was the engine repaires. Estimated time till warp would be restored would be five hours. Five hours for them to have to sit there. Five hours for the kidnappers to get closer to Klingon space.

"Thank you, Ensign." She said as she handed the pad back to him and left without saying another word. The three men glanced at each other with knowing looks. The Vulcan deeply cared for the crew, in particular Jonathan and Trip; that much had been obvious since their voyage into the Delphic Expanse three years ago.

"I'd better get back to the bridge." Williams sighed and left himself, leaving Danning and Phlox to continue treating the injured crew.

Using the scanner to find her way around the vessel, Eveyn Jacobs had made it up to a small area near the top of the ship. If she had to compare it with something on _Enterprise_, the first thing she would think of would be the catwalk; the maintenance shafts that ran the length of each nacelle. She was pretty certain that no one would find her up here, not until they repaired internal sensors and were alerted to her presence, but for now she had somewhere safe to sit and think on her predicament. She was now alone on an alien vessel heading for Klingon space with three senior officers about to be handed over to them, and no way of knowing where _Enterprise_ was. So, what could she do?

Option one; she could just sit where she was and hope for the best that _Enterprise_ would get to them, she just wasn't a patient person, and that option would alomost certainly end with her gettign caught and being sent to Rura Penthe with the others. The thought of the prison colony sent a shiver down her spine.

Option two; a slightly riskier choice than the first would be to release Archer, Tucker and Reed and try to take control. The odds of that being sucessful were low as she only had two phase pistols and she knew that there were at least twenty six Janen on board, possibly more. They would be severely overwhelmed, not to mention outnumbered in both man power and fire power, and probably wouldn't even make it to a turbolift. She would probably then lose her promotion for recklessly endangering Archer's life, if _Enterprise_ ever rescued them.

Option three; Evelyn could try and disable the ship from the inside, sneak around and sabotage the engines. She wasn't an engineer, but she was pretty certain she would be able to do it. If it went wrong then it would only be herself in danger as the others would still be in their cells an wouldn't have a clue as to what was going on. Again it was still risky, but not as much as her second thought.

She sighed heavily as she sat down, leaning her back against the wall, weighing up her options carefully. "What would you do, Malcolm?" She asked, speaking to herself. "If T'Pol had told you 'by any means necessary', what would you do in my place?" She sighed again, running a hand down her face. Picking up the scanner she began to review the ship's schematics, familiarising herself with the nearby corridors, rooms and crawl spaces. She could also see where various people were, luckily no on seemed at all interested in coming up to where she was.

Evelyn wasn't sure just how long she sat, it could have been minutes, or a couple of hours, but eventually she decided enough was enough. She had to do something, there was every possibility that internal sensors would be back online any minute and then she'd be discovered. She'd be a sitting duck just waiting for something to happen.

Getting up, she checked the scanner for the surroundings and carefully made her way back down to where the cells were.

The coast was clear.

She moved to the first door she came to and, using her eyes to check both ways down the corridor she pressed the buttons and the door slip open with a slight hiss.

"Ensign!" Malcolm exclaimed, rushing to the door when he saw her standing there, a smile coming to his face. "What are doing here?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "Well, the plan was to rescue the three of you, but I'm afraid I've had to try and come up with a plan B." She began to explain, staying at the door so that it wouldn't close and trap her in the cell with Malcolm. "Cause when does plan A ever work? But I'm afraid I'm the only one left. The MACOs got transported back to _Enterprise_."

The tactical officer glanced at her hips briefly then looked back at her face. "I see you've come armed, ready for a battle."

"One was meant to be for you, but that might not be such a good idea any more."

The man nodded his head in agreement, placing a hand on her shoulder. "So what is the plan now?"

"I'm not entirely sure." She replied, her eyes constantly glancing down to the scanner in her hand and looking along the corridors. Nothing yet. "I've been asking myself what would you do?"

"And what have I come up with?"

She shook her head. "A plan, but it's a little risky." Malcolm laughed a little bit, knowing the Ensign all too well, she was known for her risky thoughts, but then again, so was he.

The brow of Prell furrowed as he glanced to the console in front of him where a red light was blinking on and off. The bridge of the Janen vessel was smaller than that of _Enterprise_, all consoles faced the centre where Auran had his commander chair, a revolving seat so he could turn to look at whoever spoke with ease. "Commander! Take a look at this."

Auran strode over and peered at the light. "That's the silent alarm for the cells. Get down there, now!"

"Yes sir!" Prell nodded and, pointing to two crewmen, dashed off the bridge, grabbing weapons as they left.

Malcolm sighed slightly and folded his arms over his chest. "Well, whatever you do decide, I'm sure it'll be the right choice."

Evelyn nodded slightly before she noted on her scanner three bio signs moving quickly in her direction. "Uh oh! Gotta go."

"Stay safe!" He called out as she closed the door and darted down the corridor, "And give them hell, Evelyn." He grinned to himself, gaining a little bit of hope. There was no one better to have to cause the kidnappers a whole lot of bother.

The three of the Janen officers arrived at the corridor just seconds after Evelyn hid round the corner. They slowly and cautiously moved down. Each door was still closed, securely locked.

"Check them!" He pointed, but each of them found that their prisoners were still in their cells, just where they should be. Without saying anything to their confused prionsers they left, slightly puzzled by the indication of a wrong code being entered, but one that still allowed the door to be opened. "There must be some sort of malfunction." He reported as he returned to his post."

Auran watched him. "They're still there?"

Prell nodded. "All three of them, exactly where we left them." He replied, pressing buttons. "I've got the computer running diagnostics now." There were a few moments of silence as the ship's computer ran through the diagnostic analysis before beeping loudly at Prell. The man sighed, bemused by the results.

"Well?" Auran queried.

"All systems appear to be normal."

"Run them again. Something caused the alarm to go off."

Once Prell and his friends had gone, Evelyn returned to her hiding spot. Well, at least now if something did go wrong she'd be able to say she had permission from Reed to do anything she wanted, within reason. She spent a few minutes studying the layout of the ship and memorising where things were. It the plan she had come up with wasgoing to work she needed to know every inch, nook and cranny, ins and outs better than the crew.

Four hours since their failed rescue plan and Liieutenant Hess made her way to the ready room, pressed the chime and waited.

"Come in."

Hess entered, a data pad in her hands. "Commander." She addressed the Vulcan. "Repairs update." T'Pol took it without looking at the engineer and began reading through. "And Commander Kelby says the engines will be back online in about five minutes."

For the first time T'Pol actually raised her head to look directly at the Lieutenant. That was good news indeed. "Commander Kelby has done well."

Hess nodded. "He said he isn't happy that they should be pushed to ohard, but he is willing to do so if the needs call for it."

Commander T'Pol passed the pad back to her. "Inform Ensign Mayweather as soon as possible to go to warp five, and ask Ensign Sato to contact _Columbia_. I have a feeling we will need their help."

"Yes Commander. Right away." Hess took the padd and left the ready room, heading to the bridge to carry out the orders she had been given before returning to engineering and helping with the last few bits of repairs that fell under her expertise.

T'Pol stood sat the window, her arms by her side as she thought on everything. The engines had been through hell before and survived, but of course that was with Trip looking after them, and he wasn't here right now. But she had every confidence in Commander Kelby's abiities. Of course her mind kept wandering to the fates of the four of them if theyfailed to catch up. Captain Archer's was pretty obvious, but what of the other three? They had done nothing to upset the Klingons, so it was hard to say what would happen to them.

Within minutes, just like the engineers had promised, _Enterprise_ jumped to warp, the stars whizzing passed the window. Finally they were getting somewhere again, and at warp five they were very likely to catch up.


	5. A Risky Plan

Chapter 5

Checking that both phase pistols were securely in their holsters by her side, Jacobs began to climb back down to the regular decks. Using her scanner she was able to carefully make her way to the Janen's Armoury. Three men stood inside the large, high ceiling room. There were three doors that allowed entry, and Evelyn was standing by one now, holding her breath as one man moved very close to the door before turning away and going back to the side where the other two were. She let out a little sigh of relief, but it was far from over.

For a few tense minutes she waited until all three left by the furthest door from where she hid. Seizing her chance she darted in and began to look around.

They had torpedoes of various shapes and sizes all neatly stacked on racks, devices which registered as being some sort of explosives, various different forms of detonators and power readings. Malcolm would have a feld day in here if he knew what they were keeping. These guys were practically armed to the teeth, battle ready.

She soon found the cases where they kept their rifles. These qwould prove very useful in her little plan. She slung the straps over her back, one across each shoulder so they hang one on each side, balancing her out. Also spotting a knife in a cupboard she grabbed that, putting it away in one of her pocets but with the handle sticking out so it would be easy to get at.

Now Ensign Evenlyn Jacobs was armed to the teeth.

Feeling pleased with her extended selection of weaponry she left the room, ensuring she wouldn't be bumping into anyone as she did. The Ensign quickly checked her scanner again to be absolutely certain of which way she needed to go next. With her route memorised she made her way down three decks, using the service ladders rather than turbolifts. It look longer, but it was far safer, less chance of bumping into anyone and getting caught.

Evelyn was soon standing outside her next destination, her eyes watching the scanner as it showed five bio signs slowly moving around, all on the other two floors of the large room. Their Engineering spanned three decks, the reactor standing upright in the middle, with work stations and storage compartments surrounding it. Quietly she entered through the hatch and closed it again, doing her best not to make a sound as she did. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm her nerves, this next part of her plan was quite risky, and she had to make sure she didn't make any more mistakes.

Peering over the edge of her level she could see that no one had heard her, they were all going about their duties as they usually did. They hadn't noticed anything.

"Narrir! How are the repairs on internal sensors coming?" The chief engineer called over to another crewman as he picked up some sort of device and began to operate it. It appeared to be some sort of hand held computer device from where she hid, but that was all she could make out.

"It should be back online in about two hours!"" Came the reply from a man who had his head inside a junction on the floor. Two hours before she'd be discovered. Something would need to be done about that… and fairly soon.

She watched as two of the engineers left the room, leaving three. Tightening her grip on the rifles she stood up, leaned over the railings so she had a clear view of them and fired three shots in quick succession, each hitting their targets before the men knew what was going on. All three were now lying on the floor, unconscious, one still with his head inside the junction.

Quick as a flash she dived down to the lower levels as there was a chance those other two would be back at any moment. Her eyes scanned over the various consoles in front of her, but being in a different language meant she didn't have a clue as to what they each said. Once again she ensured both rifles were secure and fired off multiple rounds at several pieces of equipment, not really caring what she hit, as long as it wasn't life support controls. That would be very bad indeed.

Sparks flew as power was disrupted to the consoles and the main lights went off, throwing the room into almost darkness. The sound of the reactor powering down could also be heard, and that brought a smile to the Ensign's face as her plan was so far working well She moved over to another panel and, after peering inside the junction, pulled out a few pale blue coloured data discs and put them in her pocket. That should slow them up even more.

Her head looked up as she heard the sound of a door opening on the next level up. Quick as a flash she darted out the nearest door just seconds before Janen crew came rushing in to find out what was going on. By this time, auxiliary power had kicked in, and lighting was dim.

"Get medics in here!" One yelled out, moving to the unconscious crew and checking their pulses. Other men began to run in as they tried to assess the situation. Auran soon arrived, followed by Prell.

"Report!"

"We're not sure what's happened, Commander. Kanen and I left for a couple of minutes, while we were gone the engines went offline, and they were unconscious." One of them replied. "Many of the console shave been shot up."

"How quickly can you get all this repaired?"

"Several days." He replied grimly and watched as Auran got angrier.

"We are supposed to rendezvous with the Klingons tomorrow!" He shouted out in his fury.

Kanen shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir. We can't get this fixed in time."

Prell sighed slightly. "The silent alarm… now this. It must be one of the Humans."

Auran looked at his friend. "Bring me the engineer." And with that he stalked out of engineering, the crew watching, knowing that he was now in a dangerous mood.

Prell sighed again before he noticed that everyone had paused. "Get to work on those repairs, or it'll be you that Auran will be sending for!" He barked out and immediately they all went about their duties. When Auran was in this kind of mood, someone usually got hurt…. Once someone died when the bounty hunter needed to vent his anger. Thankfully it didn't happen very often. Taking one last look around the room to ensure everyone was doing something, he left and headed for the cells.

Before too many people had flooded the area around engineering, Evelyn had made her return to her hiding sot. Taking the data discs out of her pocked she placed them on the floor in front of her and, using the butt of one of the rifles, smashed them into tiny little pieces. "That'll keep you here for a while." She grinned and rested back, now all she needed to do was hope _Enterprise_ was still close to rescue them all.

T'Pol quickly moved onto the bridge from the ready room and stood next to Travis. "What is it, Mr Mayweather?"

"Commander. Long range sensors indicate that the Janen vessel has stopped."

"Perhaps they have docked with the Klingons?" Hoshi suggested, but watched as Travis shook his head from side to side.

"Sensors don't show any other vessels in the area. They're alone."

The Vulcan stood thinking for a moment or two. "Increase our speed to five point two."

"Aye ma'am." The starship began to vibrate as the engines were pushed to their limit.

She then glances up at Hoshi. "Contact Columbia, inform them of what's going on." Hoshi nodded and worked as T'Pol sat down in the command chair, a renewed sense of determination. Things were beginning to look more hopeful, they now had a chance to catch up and hopefully finish the rescue operation. As long as they encountered no problems they should have the Captain back in time for dinner.

The chief engineer groaned with pain as he was punched in the stomach. His face was covered in bruises and cuts already as the Janen commander vented his rage on the human.

"I'll ask you again, Commander Tucker. How did you get out of your cell?"

Trip shook his head. "I don't know what you're talking about." Another blow to his face sent him collapsing to the floor, his arms and legs sprawled out.

"You opened your cell door, we know you did. It triggered an alarm on our bridge, so there's no use in denying it. You then wet to engineering and disabled our reactor with our rifles which you stole."

"It wasn't me." He replied, emphasising his words, after spitting blood out of his mouth. "I haven't left the cells."

Auran crouched down and grabbed the back of his head, pulling the hair roughly. "What did you do with the rifle? Put it back in the Armoury?"

"I haven't touched your weapons."

"No one else but you would know what controls to damage. Reactor containment and life support are still intact, everything else you shot up."

Trip shook his head again. "I can't read your language." He coughed a little, spitting out more blood. "Please." He began to beg. "I'm telling you, it wasn't me!"

Auran ignored the man and stood back up, releasing his grip on Trip's hair, then began pacing around the tortured engineer. "What were you planning to do once you'd stopped the ship? Eh? Try and take over the ship? Jump into the escape pods?"

Commander Tucker remained lying on the floor, fearful that if he tried to get up Auran would just hurt him even more, and just for that it wasn't worth another punch or kick. "I didn't have any plans. I didn't do anything."

Auran was about to kick his prisoner in the stomach when Narrir walked in "Commander!"

"What!?"" He glared at him, furious that he had been interrupted.

"Several data discs have been removed from the main computer."

The Janen glared at Tucker and hauled him to his feet. "Where are the data discs?" At first Trip didn't reply, causing Auran to shake him hard. "Where are they?!" He yelled.

Trip shook his head. "I don't know anything about any discs!"

Prell and Havek had one simple task to do for the moment; retrieve spare parts from the storage bins on the second deck.

"These Humans are cleverer than they look." The younger Janen commented as they climbed up the ladder.

Prell laughed slightly. "Either that or they are totally insane. No wonder the Klingons want to kill them. They're a waste of space." He reached the top of the ladder and placed his hand on the hatch lever, but it was already unlocked. The hatches were always kept locked, weren't they? He shrugged it off, obviously whoever was last up had just forgotten to lock it again.

"Do you think Tucker will admit to what he's done?"

The older man thought for a second then shook his head. "Nah. Humans are stubborn too." He said as he pushed open the hatch.

Eyes shot up at hearing the metallic sound and then watched as a head appeared at the hatch entrance. Someone had arrived. Evelyn scrambled for one of the rifles that lay a few feet away from her.

"Hey!" Prell yelled as he jumped to his feet and lunged for the female. Both reached the weapon at the same time as a battle for control of it broke out. Havek climbed out from the hatch as quickly as he could , rushing behind hr to try and pull her back.

"Let go of me!" She cried out as her legs and arms began to flail around as the strength of the two men overpowered her and Prell soon had the rifle in his hands for a few seconds before she was able to kick it from his grasp.

He lunged forward, grabbing the struggling Ensign's chin and hilding n tightly, his nails nearly breaking the skin as he dug them in. "Feisty one, aren't you?" He commented, looking into her eyes then letting go.

"Least we now know who damaged the engines." Havek said as he kept hold of Evelyn, making sure she wasn't going t get away from him.

Evelyn smiled a little. "Yeah. That put a stop to your plans." She promptly received a smack round the face.

"Hold her steady." The older man ordered as he took off the lace from one of his brown boots and used it to bind her hands behind her back. With her hands now immobile, her struggling stopped. There was no point in wasting energy now. They noticed she had calmed down as they began to gather up the various weapons and devices nearby. Havek spotted the strewn out crystal shards that were now the remains of the data discs and scooped them up in his hands.

A red mark was already beginning to show on her right cheek as she watched them both, glaring. She was a little annoyed with herself for not paying attention to her scanner. She'd let her guard down for a moment and it had cost her dearly. Any chance of helping the senior officers had now had completely faded away, and it was all her fault. After disabling the engine and the internal sensors she had thought she would be completely safe, but now here were the two Janen, men that had now captured her, and her hands tied behind her back. A new plan had to formulated, but that was going to be difficult.

Prell tested the bonds before dragging the Ensign to her feet and pulling her over to the hatch. He began to climb down, stopped then Havek helped to haul her over his shoulder so they would be able to get her down. Auran would certainly have fun with this one, maybe suffer the same fate as Tucker and Reed… to be sold ino slavery… or worse.


	6. Captured!

Chapter 6

With their prisoner in tow, the Janen officers returned to the interrogation room, for now handing the female over to Auran was more important than the spare parts they were asked to fetch, they could easily ask another member of the crew to go to the storage bins for them. She didn't try struggling anymore, it just wasn't worth it. The man's shoulder was uncomfortable as he climbed down the ladder, awkwardly. Once they were out of the service tunnels and onto a normal corridor she was lowered back to her own feet and shoved roughly along. Prell entered the room first on his own, staying back and watching as Auran hit the engineer again and he fell to the floor with a heavy thud, groaning as his body hit the deck and pain shot through him. He coughed loudly as he tried to get his breath back. He'd given up trying to respond as the Janen Commander just wasn't listening to him. His uniform was now ripped in one or two places from the force of Auran's blows and throwing the Human around like a soggy old rag. At least it wasn't the uniform that the quartermaster was repairing… that would certainly have made him annoyed. It wasn't easy to tell if the man would be able to take any more of the man's attacks. "Auran!" Prell called out.

"Prell… can't you see I'm in the middle of something!" The commander responded angrily, keeping his back to the door, his eyes on the injured man in front of him. He had been about to kick Trip in the stomach when he had been interrupted.

"Yes sir, I know." He nodded. "But there is something you will want to see." He turned his head and indicated for Havek to enter, pulling Evelyn in with him. He pushed her forward and she very nearly lost her footing, but was able to recover herself and remain on her feet. Her eyes immediately went to the figure that lay on the floor, her face becoming a picture of shock as she looked at the battered man. The cuts, the bruises, the ripped clothing. Why had Auran done that to him? Trip's head turned at the sound of the footsteps and just stared at her, as best he could, in surprise.

Auran turned slowly, his eyes looking the female up and down. "Where did she come from!?"

"We found her up in service junction three just now." Havek stepped forward and held out the crystal shards for Auran to see. "She had these with her, along with two of our rifles, one knife, and two of their own weapons. She's quite a feisty one too."

Prell placed all the confiscated equipment down on a nearby table, including her communicator and scanner. "Commander Tucker was telling the truth. He had nothing to do with the engines. She did. She was probably left behind when we raised our shields back up and Enterprise couldn't beam her back over with the others." He began to explain to the man in charge.

"If she's here, there are probably others!" He yelled at them both. "Start looking!"

Prell shook his head. "If there were we'd have known about it sooner. They'd have done more damage. She'd be able to tell you if anyone else is here." He pointed to Evelyn who had remained on the spot.

The Janen Commander took slow steps towards the Ensign, his yellow eyes still eyeing her up and down as he took in her appearance. He was annoyed that the man he had been torturing had been telling the truth the whole time, but now he had a fresh victim to torture. "Are there more of you on board? What's your name?" He queried as he paced around her. He briefly glanced down to her wrists, noting that they were still bound. Jacobs remained silent. He looked up at her face, spotting the red mark from where Prell had slapped her. "Are there others with you?" Still silence. He stopped in front of her, pausing for a moment before holding out his hand towards Prell. The other man moved over, passing him the knife that Jacobs had stolen from their Armoury. "Fine." He spat at her, his anger growing again as she refused to answer him. "You want to play it that way…" He turned and moved to Tucker, grabbing his clothing so he couldn't move away and pressed the knife against his throat. Trip moaned in pain from the movement, and more as he felt the cold metal blade pressing against his skin.

"No… wait… don't!" She cried out, getting the man's attention slightly, but the knife was still against Tucker's throat, and slowly being pressed deeper. "I'm alone. It's Jacobs…. Ensign Jacobs!" She added, hoping he would release the engineer and he did. Both Starfleet officers relaxed as Auran moved away, toying with the knife in his hands, moving closer to Jacobs.

When he was close enough he pointed the knife in her direction, the tip close to her own throat, forcing her to lift her chin. "You'd better not be lying to me." They locked eyes for several long moments and he lowered the knife and then stepped away from her to look at the two other men in the room and the collection of items they had taken off her. Those few moments of looking into her eyes gave him enough of a feeling to believe that she was being truthful.

Evelyn closed her eyes as the danger to both her life and Commander Tucker's was, for the moment, ended. It was a well-known fact that people were braver with their own lives, but became weak when others were threatened. She looked at Trip as he looked at her. It was her fault he had been beaten up so badly, and a feeling of guilt began to well up inside her. If only she hadn't done what she did, then Trip would unharmed and she'd still be hiding, for a couple more hours at least. _'I'm sorry.'_ She mouthed to him and he slowly nodded his head in acknowledgement, she nodded back to him.

There were a few moments of silence as Auran paced around behind Evelyn. He finally stopped but without looking at Prell and Havek he barked out another order. "Bring me the other two." Prell and Havek left the room, the door closing behind them. He kept watching Evelyn and Trip from where he stood, watching to see just how well they knew each other. Maybe there would be something he could use to his advantage. But nothing. Trip was just looking down at the floor, and Jacobs was standing perfectly still. "So you're the one that has damaged my ship. Sorry to say that we damaged Enterprise, so they won't be coming for you for a very long time." He wasn't actually sorry at all, it just made him feel better by saying it, hoping to make the two of them feel a sense of hopelessness.

Evelyn turned her head to look at him, but said nothing. So, everything she had done was for nothing? The thought of that made her stomach churn, but she had to remain strong right now. She had little option. If she showed any sign of weakness then her life, along with Tucker's and possibly Reed's, would be over in an instant. _'The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the one.'_ She remembered T'Pol saying that to her once, and at the time it hadn't really meant much. But right now, that Vulcan saying held a lot of meaning to her.

Auran couldn't help but laugh a little at her. "I thought the females of your species was weak, at least that's what the Klingons had told me, perhaps you still are, and you're just trying to look brave in front of your Commander."

Trip sat himself up slightly, coughing and a couple more drops of blood fell to the floor where he lay. "She's not putting it on." He spoke up and Auran turned his head to look at him, obviously intrigued by what he was saying. "Ensign Jacobs is one of the bravest crewmen we have, braver than a lot of the men on board."

"Klingons lie to suit them." She added. "You've obviously not had as many dealings with them as we have."

The Janen Commander looked between the two of them. They really had underestimated the Humans. His head turned to the door as Prell and Havek entered, pushing forward Reed and Archer in front of them.

"Jacobs!?" Archer called out, recognising the back of the Ensign's head and was surprised to see that she was there, but still she didn't move. He was confused by what was going on, then noticed his best friend on the floor. "Trip!" He tried stepping to him to help him, but Havek stood in his way. "What have you done to him?" He ordered, looking over at his enemy.

Auran placed a hand on his chin. "A little misunderstanding. I thought being the engineer he'd figured out how to disable our engines. As it turns out, this one is the culprit." Malcolm couldn't help but smile a little. So she'd made up her mind about what to do after all, seemed like she'd made a pretty good choice. "I see now." He stepped closer to Reed. "She triggered off the silent alarm when she went to your cell. I suppose you told her what to do?" He was starting to put all the pieces together. Maybe there wasn't anything going on between Evelyn and Trip, but maybe there was something more between the two security officers.

Reed shook his head. "I didn't tell her to do anything."

"But you are her superior officer."

"Ensign Jacobs has a habit of not following rules or orders." Archer spoke up. He noticed that Evelyn's head moved slightly as she heard him admit that to the enemy, not really something she wanted to hear him say, even if it was the truth.

Auran took a couple of steps back from the pair. His eyes glanced to Havek. "Untie her." The man nodded and moved forward, using the knife to cut the lace, letting the strands fall to the floor and her amrs were released from their position. With her hands free she was able to massage her wrists, bringing back the circulation and some feeling back into her fingers. "Why keep her around if she doesn't follow rules and orders?"

There was silence for a moment or two from both men, neither really wanting to admit it right out in front of her, but did they really have a choice? "Because she's a damn good officer, one of the finest I've ever met." Archer replied.

A grin came across Auran's face as a thought came to him. It was a grin that neither Reed nor Archer liked the look of. Both of them could tell something bad was about to happen. "Prell… get Yatnir here." The man just nodded and left.

"Who is Yatnir?" Archer queried.

"Yatnir is my finest officer… in the way of fighting anyway." He stepped closer to them both. "I think it would be fun to see how your officer fares in a fight against mine." Evelyn turned slowly to finally look at the men, the mention of a fight had surprised her too.

"Fun!?" Archer couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How is fighting anyone, fun?" His eyes glanced over to Jacobs, her face was showing very little emotion, almost like a Vulcan.

Auran began to chuckle to himself. "Oh I promise you… this will be fun. And after all the trouble she's caused, this is her bit of punishment." Prell returned with the one called Yatnir. He was a man, just a little taller than Auran, and looking quite a bit more muscular than any of the other Janen crew they had seen so far. "Oh… and just so that you are aware." He briefly glanced at Evelyn then back to the Captain. "It's a fight to the death."

"What?"

"No!" Archer and Reed were in shock. There was no way Evelyn would be able to survive against a man taller, stronger and possibly more trained than she was. It didn't seem fair at all. Evelyn was also in shock, her breathing getting heavier with fear. "You can't do this."

"Let me take her place!" Malcolm cried out as Auran began to move to Evelyn. "I'm her superior, it should be me that fights him." He was begging to take her place, if only to let her live even if it meant he'd be killed in the fight.

"No!" Heads turned to look as both Auran and Evelyn yelled back at Malcolm. It was a response that no one had expected from the Ensign, and one that shocked her too. She couldn't believe what she was saying, had she really just said that to Malcolm? Auran began to laugh again. She really was a feisty one, going against the Lieutenant's wishes.

"Evelyn?" Malcolm just stared at her, shaking his head slightly. "Don't do this."

"Oh… she is doing this Lieutenant. There is nothing you or your Captain can say to make me change my mind about this." He continued walking to Evelyn and held out the knife for her to take. She looked between handle, Janen and finally handle again before taking it into her own hand. As she took the weapon, Havek moved to Trip and pulled him to his feet, bringing him over to his ship mates so that he would be out of the way. Her head followed them before stopping to look at Archer and Malcolm. Malcolm looked so pained and worried to see her taking up the challenge. In the last year or so their friendship had grown a lot more than anyone had actually realised. She was a subordinate, yes, but she was also his close friend.

Archer held onto Trip, helping his injured friend to stand against the wall. He then turned to Malcolm, placing a hand on his shoulder to try and give the man some sort of comfort. "Have faith, Lieutenant." He whispered. It wasn't easy for any of them to watch her do this, but they knew they had to. They had to give her the confidence to win. Reed glanced at Archer, looking into his eyes, then looked back at Evelyn, nodding to her.

She nodded back to him then turned to face her opponent, Yatnir. He stood the other side of the room, with a knife very similar to the one Evelyn held in her hands. She felt a hand clamp down hard on her shoulder, making her jump slightly and she looked to see Auran standing right next to her. "Die well, Ensign Jacobs." He whispered before moving away. He hoped his words would cause her to make a mistake. She'd damaged his ship so he was going to make her pay for it.

More of the Janen crew moved into the room, blocking the doorway to ensure that none of the Starfleet officers could escape, and to be able watch the fight. Their evening's entertainment was about to begin.

Her stomach began to churn more with the nerves that were building up fast. She'd never killed anyone before, she'd never had to, and right now she didn't really want to kill anyone. Her breathing became faster as fear began to rise within her. There was only one way this could end. Either Yatnir would die, or she would.


End file.
